:
Unique looking
Mild V shaped signature nicely executed
Amazing bass
Good sound separation
Sick carry case
Premium feeling cable
:
Shells somewhat chonky
Cable is sturdy and microphonic
Note:
This review is mostly based on my subjective feel and hearing ability. You may not hear and have the same experience as i do since different person can have different experience while listening same audio gear and different gear can affect sound differently. I don't want to roast or deny any frequency response graphs and look at them as bull$#!t or irrelevant because i found them very useful many times and that's also someone's work and time invested for community, so it would be inappropriate at the least, but they also can vary from rig to rig. Also, keep in mind that im not spending too much time while testing gear, a couple of hours or a day in most cases, so i might not give "full experience" like if i were listening to it for a week or month. I give star ratings considering the price, so you might see different price point gear with same star rating but different sound quality, so keep in mind that for example 4 star rating IEM at 10$ is worse than 4 star rating at 100$, or, 5 star rating at 50$ is better than 3 star rating at 100$.
Gear used:
SMSL DL200, Surfans F20 Pro, stock cable 4.4mm BAL, stock eartips, Tidal desktop app, Foobar2000 local files (1200-7200 kbps FLAC/DSD)
Package and accessories:
Okay, this is kind of package you dont see every day and you immediately get that "special" feeling once you see it and come in touch with. Opening the box you will find instruction manual and paper with 5 recommended tracks for listening i guess, the rest i cannot read unfortunately. Next, you will find shells on left side and on the right is paper box. Inside it is carry case, which is by the way bonkers good, the most amazing case i ever saw. Quality seems very good and it's big enough so you can put whatever you want in it, for example a small dongle with couple of IEMs, or even a DAP with 1-2 IEM sets i belive can fit here. Also this case have 3 "coupling" options which is mega nice. However it's not pocketable of course, but it can fit in big pockets if you have it. There are 2 types of eartips inside black eartips case with "Elysian Fields" text on it, nice touch regardless of that. Red ones are somewhat "springy" under fingers while black ones are not. Im not sure about rubber material, while stem length are the same, black eartips are just slighly shorter and stem top is more rounded while on grey/red ones look more "sharp". Comfort of them is more or less the same for me, but i kinda feel that black ones suits me better.
Cable:
Even cable feels premium and unique, but with some drawbacks. This is 4.4mm BAL version cable, it also has "Elysian Fields" logo on it's connector which is always nice to me. Cable is double vowen and braided, feels sturdy and high quality, but there is the catch, it dont want to "twist" how you like and it tends to be straight or better to say it's stiff and not much flexible. Also because it's braided it can itroduce microfonics when it rubs onto something, however i didnt had problems with that while listening to this set. On the other side is 2 pin connector and whole cable is in black color.
Shells:
Again, and probably most unique thing about this set are shells itself. They look like they're wrapped in aluminum foil with nice texture and feeling under fingers. They're made of aliminum alloy really, both faceplate and inner shell. The thing i dont really like is "GENESIS" text printed on faceplate because it looks too basic compared to everything else, or maybe they could print it just a bit bolder so it pop-up a little, but hey. On top of the shell is another logo imcused into aluminum. Nozzle is integrated part of inner plate and it's kinda short. Nozzle filter is metal and looks nice and interesting in a way. There are no obvious pressure relief ports on the shells but i didnt had problems with that. Shells overall are a bit chonky but not heavy or uncomfortable by any means.
Bass:
It feels rumbly, thumpy and punchy overall. Sub bass extension is on a prominent side and you can notice that immediately after putting this IEM into your ears. Not only it feels very fun and musical but texture this set provides in this region is pretty refined, i would say even more refined than many dynamic drivers made and dedicated for bass region ONLY. This is probably one of first sets i tried that has right amount of quantity, which is a bit boosted and feels big and energetic but in the same time it's very fast and somewhat technical just because of speed and texture, it even makes bad tracks sound better in a way. Mid bass region is less prominent but still a bit it maintains some punch and slam. It's not that forward like sub bass region but still gives musicality just with more clarity and it feels even faster and technical. For my taste i would like just a bit more quantity in this region if i want more fun and musical sound, but im really satisfied with this, or IEM just gives that "fake" feeling of "lacking" because sub bass region is just exceptional ? It might be for real. Now this set's bass is probably not enough to satisfy bassheads but surely gives very clean and energetic bass overall. When it comes to instruments, cellos sound pretty full and very energetic, sousamphone is also very energetic but more cleaner than im used to and it gives somewhat forward feeling, drums have decent punch and slam. Overall bass is very well done on this set, very musical, fun and has very good quality.
Mids:
Mids are also done in a musical way. This set is slightly leaning towards mild V shape tonality which gives it clean presentation. Lower mids sound clean and very nice when it comes to vocals, but when it comes to instruments they can feel a bit dry and sterile, it's like it lacks a bit of "resonance" energy and fullness, this is probably caused because bass is elevated and upper mids and treble are very present. And speaking of upper mids, they are done in a good way. Vocals sound full and present but female ones might sound fuller than male ones on certain tracks or better to say that male ones have a bit more natural timbre in upper region and female ones has nicer timbre in lower midrage. When speaking of instruments in upper midrange, they're done very nice, not much more you can ask for. Back on tonality of instruments, while they sound very clean it's done nicely for musicality and they sound very solid and Harman inspired but they are not really thin, yet they might be on edge for my taste. However if you like Harman you will probably like this lower mid region, i personally prefer tilted diffuse field and that's why i describe them as "lacking energy". Violins, pianos, guitars, accordions, they all sound similar, and if you like warm sound or you lean more towards studio sound signature i cannot really recommend this set since it's not trying to be that, but with good quality local files this set kinda comes back to life in my opinon.
Treble:
For treble tonality goes the same as for mids and bass, this is musical and fun set and upper frequencies are slightly boosted to give you fun factor. Tonality is done well and treble is balanced between lower and upper region so nothing stands out. Detail retrieval in treble is good overall, very good for a single dynamic driver but if we compare to some BA sets for example, this one is just a bit behind, but it's not fair to compare hybrids and multi driver IEMs with single dynamic ones let's be real. Treble forward tracks on this IEM dont sound that fatiguing although this IEM itself boasts with analytical character in this region. Vocals appearing in treble region sound pretty refined and nice, even a bit relaxed to some extent, not sharp by any means yet they maintain clarity and presence. Instruments sound fine with solid presence, however from time to time they might sound a bit pushed back or not very well polished, you wont miss anything but again, it's dynamic driver and it's probably "caused" by that, but keep in mind that it's just a minor thing and that im nitpicking, also it probably might be "corrected" with some eartips or you just might not hear anything wrong, we all have different ears afterall. Overall treble also have that "premium" feel if we keep in mind that this is a single driver IEM, there is not really major thing you can complain about.
Stage:
Soundstage feels wide and far on this set, it's like you're positioned in big echoing void while listening to some tracks like "Life worth living" by laurel, sense of space is done nicely especially on tracks that have forward spacious character or at least tend to have it. Sound imaging is also done well, and you probably wont have any problem reaslising where things are taking place on your tracks. When it comes to layering im not really impressed with this set, it will give you enough informations but i heard better to be honest. The thing is that "sides" on this IEM sound better and more precise than forward/backward sense of imaging/layering for some reason, not a major thing you should worry about but im just trying to find something average here, or better to say something that im not impressed with.
Technicalities:
Separation on this IEM is very good and you will immediately notice that right on start, im really satisfied with it and it comes in handy if you like musical set. Also resolution is somewhat "high" and both of those things might be because of tonality, but it is what it is, in a good way of course, i think bass quality subjectively contributes to that mixed with slightly elevated treble. Detail retrieval is good overall and this set tries to do it, and it does, but not at that high point that comes as highlight, many DDs struggle to do it that good so they're on BA drivers level, nothing to be ashamed of in general. Transients sound pretty fine and there are not bad things to say about it, actually considering the driver configuration it's very good. Now speed and dynamics feel pretty premium to me, especially if we're talking about bass, it's just so good that i cannot believe how this is achieved with single driver at this price point or any driver at this price.
Other sound impressions:
I was testing this set with grey/red eartips. Putting black ones gives slighly more laid back sound for me, or they just have different seal, im not sure. They dont look the same but sound change is subtle to me. I feel like this IEM scales with better DAC and AMP. When i switched from Surfans F20 Pro to SMSL DL200 they felt a bit more clean with better dynamics and speed. Driveability is average, they're not hard to drive and you wont have problems turning these to loud levels.
Conclusion:
Elysian Fields Genesis G318s is very nice premium feeling IEM which utilizes it's single driver to pretty high level, all that packed in pretty unique looking aluminum shells with nice carry case inside a nice box. If you aim at musical and fun set with good techicalities and holographic stage you probably want to consider this one, especially if you're a (sub)bass lover. As it is, i give this set 4.5 out of 5 stars, nitpicking goes to lower mids and maybe treble.
I hope you found this review any helpful and thanks for reading,
- Steva
